Scarface has a knack for narrative, creating stirring portraits in rhyme that have made him one of the most respected MCs. But two years ago, the veteran rapper was involved in a story that could have come straight from his own pen. The Houston native went to jail in October 2010 for 10 months after a judge ruled he had failed to pay $123,000 in back child support.

‘Face did his time, but Wednesday (May 9), while appearing on MTV’s “RapFix Live” with Sway, he sought to set the record straight. “In the system, when your kids get grown and you pay all this money direct and it’s time for the money to stop being issued out, they gonna want to appeal because there ain’t no more money coming in no more,” he explained, insisting he paid all money due, though his record keeping wasn’t the best.

“So they may go and say you ain’t pay nothing, so that how it go.” According to ‘Face, the mother of his child went after the Rap-A-Lot legend now because their child is an adult and required payment is no longer valid by law. “C’mon, man. You want to do it now, 21 years later?” ‘Face said. “Why you ain’t do that 20 years ago, if it really was what it was? “It was an experience that I like to touch on and not dwell on,” he added.

“It was a learning experience, and my advice to any father out there is that if you send anything, you send it through the courts. That’s the best way to do, because at the end of the day, you not gonna get no credit for it.” In the meantime, the rapper is set to release his next studio album, Rooted, this August. Face also announced his long-anticipated collabo album with Beanie Sigel is also in the works. Next month, Scarface is scheduled to headline his first New York City show at SOBs. —Jayson Rodriguez (XXL)